10 Things You Didn’t Know About President Mursi

By Yavus Selim

At times of great tribulation and turmoil, the first casualty is always the truth. Why? Because the greatest weapon in the hands of the oppressors and tyrants is their ability to manipulate the facts to suit their agenda. Because without the truth, we cannot see what is right and what is wrong. Without the truth, there is only falsehood… and injustice.

And that is how we find ourselves where we are in Egypt today, where the elected President of a nation – who was kidnapped and held incommunicado for months till his supporters could be imprisoned, crushed, tortured, killed and banned – stands trial for crimes that seem to multiply by the day. Depending on which side of the divide you fall, President Mursi is either a principled hero of epic proportions or a bungling nefarious criminal mastermind. So who is the real President Mursi?

Here are ten little known facts that may help provide us with some clues:

1. He is a Hafiz of the Quran

One of the little known facts about the president is that he has memorised the entire Quran by heart. This is no mean feat and something that itself is worthy of praise. The Prophet said: “The best among you (Muslims) are those who learn the Quran and teach it.” Abu Musa Al Asharee reported that the Prophet said, “Part of showing glory to Allah is to show respect to a white-haired Muslim, and a carrier of the Quran who does not exaggerate in it nor ignore it and a just ruler.” An interesting combination of virtues there don’t you think?

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2. He is intelligent

It is widely assumed that Mursi is not that bright. He is repeatedly portrayed as bumbling and dimwitted. His detractors point to a series of decisions that seemed to exacerbate anger against him – such as the taxation U-turns, the choice of governor for Luxor and his battle royale against the judiciary. And yet the majority evidence points to Mursi being much more academically gifted than any of his detractors. He has a PHD, is a professor and was the head of the Department of Engineering in Zagazig University. He has previously worked on various projects in America and was a visiting professor there. In his short time in office, he managed to achieve a fair amount and surrounded himself with individuals with proven track records in their fields.

3. He lived in an apartment

The Egyptian president has many palaces dotted around Cairo. They are sprawling in size and lavishly furnished. When Mursi walked into the Presidential palace for the first time, he had made up his mind that he would not live in any of them. He relented to carry out official government business in these vast palaces, but he would continue to live an apartment rented out for some time. This was how we were treated to the unbelievable sight of the President of a nation having death threats to his family being graffitied onto the walls of the elevator he used to get to his flat. Compare this to the other Muslim “leaders” who (and this is not an exaggeration) have toilets that are bigger than this President’s home.

4. He refused special treatment for his dying sister

Whilst Mursi was president, his sister fell seriously ill. When he went to visit her in hospital, the doctors told him that she may get better treatment if she was transferred to Europe or America. All they needed was the order from him and a medivac chopper and airplane would be commandeered. He refused stating that his family should not be favored above those of order Egyptians merely because of the position he held. His sister passed away in a government hospital like any other Egyptian citizen.

5. The Azaan takes precedence over his speech

[youtube]http://youtu.be/tiVipazXe00[/youtube]

When Mursi was delivering an important speech he was suddenly made aware that prayer time fell. Instead of ignoring the Azaan and continuing his speech or even just staying silent for a minute – Mursi loudly and proudly repeated the Azaan. The effect was electrifying and a generation of pious young Muslims saw that even their leaders submitted to the words of Allah.

6. The homeless widow

[youtube]http://youtu.be/LaJ-La1kGa8[/youtube]

The video above is of a homeless woman who used to sleep on the streets of Cairo. One day a car pulled up and Mursi himself got out of the back. He asked her why she slept on the streets. She told him that since she had become a widow, she was unable to continue paying for their apartment and eventually found herself on the street. Mursi said that no mother in Egypt should suffer like this and directed officials to provide her with a respectable apartment and enough of a stipend from the state to pay for it. Since the coup she has become homeless again.

7. He took part in aid work

This is a picture of President Mursi visiting Banda Aceh, Indonesia following the devastating South Asian Tsunami that killed hundreds of thousands of people. He was there as part of an aid mission to help the survivors rebuild their shattered lives. Mursi isn’t just another scheming member of the deep state of Egypt who has done nothing but worked for their own advancement and that of their families since day one. When Bashaar Al-Assad sent him a congratulatory message on his election to the Presidency, Mursi replied “I do not recognize you as the rightful representative of the Syrian people.” Despite all protocols, he could not bring himself to be polite to the murderer of so many innocent people.

8. The worlds lowest paid leader

We get so used to seeing the sickening figures that business moguls, sports stars and so-called celebrities pull in that we expect our political leaders to be earning mega bucks as well. We’re not shocked when we see former Prime Ministers or Presidents become millionaires on the lucrative speakers circuit. Mursi could have taken the opportunity of being President to build a nest-egg for himself and his family. After all, he still lived in a rented flat. Maybe he could buy himself a house? It turns out that President Mursi was the lowest paid world leader. Read that again. In. The. World. He stipulated that his salary would be $10,000 for the entire year. At the time of his kidnapping, it transpired that he had actually not actually drawn any salary at all. He had been working for free.

9. He rarely missed Fajr in the mosque

[youtube]http://youtu.be/rSTyupalnQE[/youtube]

President Mursi was so keen not to miss any prayers in congregation and in the mosque that it became a running joke amongst the coup supporters who felt such outward displays of piety were pretentious. Yet, ignoring their cynicism, Mursi did not miss his prayers and he was often seen moved to tears by the khutba on Friday prayers.

10. No pictures please

Egypt, like most Arab dictatorships, had the picture of their “benevolent” leader plastered across the walls of every building. You couldn’t go anywhere in Egypt without seeing Mubarak staring down at you. When Mursi was elected, he decreed that his picture should not be hung in any Government buildings and replaced the portraits of his predecessor with that of the name of Allah. This policy has been reversed and many Egyptians are once again deifying their overlord.

The truth is the first casualty of war. And I accept that the truth is much more complex than these 10 points. There have been mistakes – Mursi admitted as much. But, whether you love or hate him, I hope some of these facts will help you gain a better understanding of the man behind the figure of love and hate. I hope they can help point you in the direction of the truth.

He can be all those things and still be incompetent. Not saying he is, I know nothing of him, but I do know ALOT of people who dislike him. They also must have valid concerns. But I didn’t know these facts, and they are pretty amazing on face value.

We all knew this was going to happen these other corrupt kings and “presidents” couldn’t have someone around like him because he would make them look bad, and his and Egypt’s well being would encourage people of other countries to get rid of the governments. So what they did was for a whole year they made everything as hard as possible for his government. Violence/weekly protests shutting down main roads. Corrupt businessmen sabotaged Egypt’s economy, the Media which is owned by secularists attacked Mursi and the MB 24/7 – you had hypocrites like Bassem Youssef making fun of the Islamists whilst he’s silent now. etc.

Then after only two days of mass protests the army stepped in, arrested him and declared a new temporary regime. Now they are pushing for Sisi to become president.

It’s obvious that there was some kind of conspiracy against Mursi after it was made clear that he was adamant about moving Egypt in a more Islamic direction. Now the Egyptians are being led on a leash by their western secular puppet, the murderer of Muslims, el-Sisi. I hope he gets what’s coming to him.

I’ll admit that Morsi may not have had the sharpest political acumen, but Id rather take a thousand honest men as leaders than shrewd liars and butchers that this ummah keeps getting … Consider what was before him- Mubarak– no intro needed, and what will be after him- Sissy– a pathological evil traitor and murderer. Like Imran khan in Pakistan, the people reject what is good for them and then they decry the cursed leaders that befalls them! What a tragedy!

Morsi is a liar and deceiver who conned or bribed millions into voting for him to become president. The web of lies he spun during the electoral trail is incredible claiming he was a NASA rocket scientist on liberal tv then outright denying it of Islamist tv. He deserves to be where he is. Long live EGYPT for EGYPTIANS not Zionist Muslim Brotherhood.

1. As a Muslim, I really don’t care if my president knows the Quran by heart, it’s not a priority for any Moslem to do so. Even the Hadith you quoted says “learn” not “learn by heart”, because what really counts is understanding it, not reciting it.
2. If you think that academically gifted equates to being smart, you need to re-evaluate your perception of intelligence.
3. A) It wasn’t an apartment, it was a villa. B) Even if it was an appartement, believe me, nobody would have had the kind of access to write graffiti on his lift unless he was a resident of the building himself, and if so, it means that even his long time neighbors hated him, making him a bad Moslem since the prophet instructed us to take care of our 7th neighbor.
4. Heartless, if he has no compassion to his own sister, how can he have any to the rest of the country.
5. Unprofessional. “If the hour is about to be established and one of you was holding a palm shoot, let him take advantage of even one second before the hour is established to plant it”, if the prophet tells us not to interrupt our work when judgement day comes, do you really think we should do it for the call for prayer? Why do you think that Moslems have hours to do their prayers between each call for prayer and the other?
6. Hypocritical! So he helped one homeless person? Is that really the only homeless person he saw in the street during his whole year? What did he do for the other homeless people of Egypt? The fact that he didn’t help his own dying sister but helped this one homeless person shows that this is a feeble PR attempt. If someone wants to help, he helps anybody who needs it, not only the ones that would improve his image. Both this point and the one about his sister clearly show that they were both done for the sake of public opinion that he’s fair and just, but in fact it shows that he’s nothing close to fair and just.
7. And?
8. The fact that he was a leading figure of the Muslim Brotherhood indicates that he is already extremely rich. When the brotherhood put put him in his position, it wasn’t for personal gains, nor was it for the well being of Egypt. It was to have a puppet who would cement the secret society at the helm of Egypt, the theft would come later. If you want examples go his abuse of power, don’t look at him (too obvious), look at his children, specially the two sons.
9. What does that have to do with being a president?! Unless it’s the fact that he’s an early bird :D
10. You obviously don’t live in Egypt. Why don’t you have him as a president where you are instead of trying to force him upon other people who don’t want him?

You are very correct about your comment on Morsi’s villa in new Cairo but I would like to add that i lived in the same district and regularly he had the road closed and at least 2 APC’s and a couple of JEEP’s stationed outside

It was Morsi’s own idea during his electoral campaign, he urged Egyptians to revolt in Tahrir square and remove him from power if he failed them as a leader. Well, he did, so they complied. So there’s no reason to whine about it, we can either agree that this is what he proposed, that he should grow a pair (instead of scratching them in front of female dignitaries) and assume the consequences of his actions and words, or agree that this was a lie that he said for the sake of getting elected, which hardly makes him a good moslem regardless of how much he prays or recites the holly Quran, in fact it makes him the worst kind of Muslim, because he gives Islam a bad name.
If you were in Egypt, you would have realized that the number of people who revolted against Morsi by far surpassed those who revolted against Mubarak; I know, I was there in both. Morsi has managed to put against him every single Egyptian who’s not linked to the Brotherhood, even the apathetics and the very religious Azhar and the Salafis; proof that it has nothing to do with Islam. That’s why now the Brotherhood is trying to get support from outside of Egypt, because those are the only ones who don’t realize that despite all the inconveniences, Egypt is a far more peaceful and stable place without Morsi and his friends.
I also remember a conversation I had with a Brotherhood friend who was trying to convince me to vote for Morsi. At one point he told me “Are you worried because they’re religious? Because they’re not, at all!”. So I told him that this was precisely what I was worried about, at least if they were religious, they would fear God in their actions, but these don’t.
Egypt is not some small country in the desert for some secret sect society to experiment with its ideologies on it, Egypt needs someone to manage it, not someone who’s trying to rule it by interfering between it’s people and God. That’s the whole idea about Islam, isn’t it; the Quran is the book of God, it’s his own words in a living language, you read it for yourself and do to your best abilities and understanding, but under no circumstances allow anybody to interfere between God and you. As Muslims we are lucky to have the example of Europe’s medieval dark ages ruled by the Vatican to learn from. As an educated Moslem (those whom God loves most) I want a President to manage the country, that’s where his limits end.

Amad-whats the big deal about democracy? The only thing we Muslims care about is that Allah’s word is highest. If there are some aspects of the democratic system which are acceptable under Islam, then fine, but it’s not something to call to.

I do not think being pious means he would be a good leader. If someone needs a Doctor, do you want the most pious Doctor or the most proficient. How would you feel if a surgeon stopped in the middle of an operation to pray?

If you have a dam leaking, do you want a pious Engineer or a Engineer with the brains, focus and experience to fix the problem. Do pilots stop piloting an aircraft to pray?

He was the Leader of Egypt, it was not his job to set examples of piousness, but to fix the country. How dare he put his own self, in front of the people he was charged to help, while he prayed, many more widows were cast out on the street, because he was not doing his job, saving one widow, was nothing but grandstanding, if that event happened at all.

Egypt’s many problems will not be fixed by a pious man, and saying he is intelligent by having a PHD from Zagazig University, LOL really? It is ranked the 2,485th best University in the world!!! My 8yo daughter faces a more challenging academic environment at her primary school.

So trying to make a poor leader sound good by whitewashing the problems and his failure to address them only makes him look pathetic.

Egypt needs someone to fix the economy, curb population growth, create security and provide a means to feed the population of Egypt without going and begging for hangouts from the Gulf states and Saudi Arabia.

If he was a responsible leader he would of been working to fix the disaster that Egypt is, instead of worrying about being pious.

The rule you pay for what you get never seemed so correct, I think the reason he did not collect his pay was out of shame at so little he achieved except make things worse.

The responsibility of a leader of a Government is first to his country and the people within, being derelict in his duty because he was too busy being pious, is just as bad as if he was off with a prostitute or drinking with his buddies, he was not doing the job that Egypt, and its people needed.

As to his alleged crimes, to be honest I think it in the most part fabricated. That does not excuse the real crime, which was neglect of his job because he was too busy being pious.

Wow! Thanks for sharing these points. Regardless of the different opinions or realities of the situation at hand, Allaah knows best the truth, these points definitely demand a level of respect for Mursi. May Allaah guide the people of Egypt to what’s best!

It has to be realised that it was millions Muslims of Egypt that rose up to demand the resignation of Morsi MISLIMS!! The Muslim Brotherhood are what? The only Muslims in Egypt that matter or are they superior somehow? What they have done is to use the word of Islam to benefit their own agenda for power subjugation of the masses and domination.

Millions rose up to usurp the democratic government that was instilled by millions more… Remember more people voted Morsi in than came on the street. And I hope you aren’t gonna spring the 33 million number on me because if you do, I am ready to sell you some sand in a desert.

Even if he was a good person, he was a terrible leader. And Gen Sisi may or may not be a good person but he is an amazing leader who cares for the people of Egypt. Most Egyptians hate Morsi and there must be a reason why they do that.

How could you call someone who spilled or allowed the spilling of the lives of thousands of people? We don’t have to agree on personalities but if sissi’s start tells us anything about him, then he is a great leader in the footsteps of tyrants and dictators… In this regard “great” becomes an adjective that is not associated with goodness.

Wallahi, I can say that the Egyptian media has cast a spell over people that they are so blinded by hatred of one party, that they allowed butchery on their streets. This is why you see the media outside almost uniformly condemning the coup, that they have to be on the side of Islamists — a position they would never voluntarily choose had the situation been even gray. It isn’t. It is black and white– oppression of a military coup as clear as the sun on a bright day.

The first step to clean your brainwashing is to remove yourself from the groupthink environment and approach the situation with a clean slate. And I am sure if you are even a little bit human, you will see the picture clearly too.

Br. Amad,
Well said…but your advice must also apply to Islamists and their supporters.
Those of us who are non-ideological when it comes to politics want a civil state.
Islamists can participate like anyone else, win and legislate when they win…but
the framework of the state must be civil and non-ideological., which means
that if they lose they must accept the loss and step aside, and we have the right
to remove laws they have passed.

Morsi & co. tried to ram through a Brotherhood constitution that would be stuck in
place whether they won in the future or not, and that made the coup inevitable. Ennhada in Tunisia has shown more political maturity and sense. Most Muslims are neither secularists, Islamists or any other thing in the ideological political sense…they simply want things like transparency, lack of corruption, good economy, rights in a civil state, a say in who governs them and the laws they pass… and better lives overall. Morsi failed to win over these people and army,ideologue secularists…and I refuse to omit this: the Saudis who wanted a counter-revolution….took advantage.

Morsi might be a great guy…but he was a lousy politician and frankly, Islamists overestimate their popularity. Most Muslims are NOT ideologues…which is why Jamaat or JUI also get paltry 2% in Pakistan or kicked out of office by exasperated public in KPK. Initial victories have more to do with Islamists being better organized under dictatorial rule and sending a message to former regime…not love of their platform.

Islamists must accept the fact most Muslims are not willing to trade military or secular dictators for religious dictators. They should also eschew group think, black and white thinking and play by the same rules. They should also condemn Islamist fanatics like Taliban who murder, terrorize and oppress as if competing with Sisi. Their oppression is also clear as the sun.

Zai- your definition of “most Muslims” is irrelevant, ALL Muslims are not secularist disbelievers. Granted, a lot may care more for their lives then establishing Allah’s law in the land, but that doesn’t negate the fact that they accept it.

*This comment was edited by the MM Comments Team in order to comply with our Comments Policy*

Dear ZAI, , ASSLLAMUALLIEKUM, , JAZAKALLAH being kind enough to heed , , please tell me how can be A Muslim secularist? How can he be a corrupt? How can he be non transparent? PLEASE do substantiate your points with reference & reliance on ISLAM, being non ARAB I know/feel you may understand my desire to enlightening myself. Please do the favour.

Do you and other supporters of Morsi/MB/NASL/SAC actually mourn those who died at Rabia or were they sent to “suicide by cop” in order to gain public sympathy, to be used as a political tool, and for the murder of police and military to be justified? The same scenario as the female MB supporters in Alexandria, sent out to cause a commotion get themselves arrested to be used for propaganda.

It is not as simple as that. There are many people who might not agree with the MB’s interpretation of an “Islamic state”, while there are also many scholars such as Tariq Ramadan who offer other insights into democracy and Islam. We cannot broad-brush anyone against MB as disbelievers. This is wrong and unhelpful.

True…but that is perhaps 5% total of the Qur’an according
to scholars like Imam Suhaib Webb. Further, Islamists themselves
twist things plenty by going beyond Qur’an and Hadith to enforce
things Allah has not given them or any government permission to enforce
or punish, but left up to individuals.

Isn’t it obvious already? Egyptians don’t deserve Mursi. Its that simple. Truly, Allah will never change the condition of people until they change themselves. When the egyptians stop taking pride in their football and shisha, then may be Allah will open doors of Mercy for them and bless them with leaders like Mursi. for now, deal with sissy you sissies…

May the disbelievers and hypocrites feel no moment of relaxation or satisfaction in the slightest until they enter Islam, may they be constantly worried and stressed, and may the foolish Muslims who are ignorant and opposed him see the error of their ways, regret it immensely and support Allah’s deen.

And may Allah send down tranquility on all the Muslim Mursi supporters, and guide the mushrik Mursi supporters, few as they are.

The Morsi supporters are showing their colors yet again, they bombed a police station in Cairo, this is their modus operandi, to kill innocent people. They have been killing innocent Egyptians since they were kicked out of power and if they continue this way, every Egyptian and Arab will support eliminating every trace and supporter of this terrorist movement. I have been to Saudi Arabia and the Saudis absolutely hate Morsi and the Brotherhood for their terrorism in name of Islam

Assalam Allaykum,
when to worry about the spiritual health of one’s heart? As humas, we commit sins. Islamic teachings encourage us to ask Allah for repentance. But many of us get quite comfortable with committing those sins to the extent that the pleasure from those sins completely desensitizes us from the need to rectify those faults. if any of us find ourself in such a state, then as ibn Al-Qayyim stated, ‘When the heart becomes empty from such grief and one is happy with sin, then one should question his faith. Firoun (lanatulai) called 60000 magicians to come face Musa (allay Salam). But when those Magicians discovered the truth, they accept Allah SWT. They accept in the morning and were exterminated in the night. As they were been massacre, they ask Allah to use the pain to replace their misdeed they done before. To me Morsi has not failed, let us ponder as Muslims. May Allah free him and more Morsi among us. May Allah SWT give him courage and patient to pass test from Allah.

People who are blinded by the evil fail to see the qualities of such high orders in Mohd. Morsi…He worked in full cooperation with Palestinians and helped them with their preparation against the zionist
oppression by opening Egypt border with palestine…which off course did not go down well with the cunning zionist neighbourhood, hence came a traitor, Sisi in picture…
and rest is for all of us to see.

The Qualities Of Morsi will certainly make tyrants and anti- islamic folk to hate him. when we refuse to judge people by God Fearing and good character but by personal hatred,then we will always have bad leaders.

You Muslims have no idea how foreign and disconnected you sound to we regular Australians. Forget Arabic and all that Islamic foolishness and just live peacefully in Australia and become Australian. This means integrating and assimilating. Everything you do and say appears otherwise tot he vast majority in this country.

I along with many in the west welcomed the Arab spring movements as evidence that the region could finally advance politically. How tragically it has all turned out. Morsi was an elected leader, however his main opponent was from the old regime so it was a protest vote rather than overt support for him. The Brotherhood appears to be secretive, exclusionist and intolerant, not like a real political party. I would urge Muslims not to support it just because it claims to be Islamic. Major black marks against Morsi were his rejection of judicial verdicts (though the judiciary was in part composed of holdovers from the old regime, the rule of law is important) and his unwillingness to stop the blatant persecution of minorities in Egypt. Muslims really have to come to grips with the issue – do they want an Islamic state or a liberal democracy?

What a magnificent resume. Though not an Egyptian, i believe those against Mursi will really pay for it one day and Allah will raise His religion above everything. What they are against is the Islam and Sunnah. Its just as it is happening in my country Nigeria today though ours is not so religious, people sacrificing to vote a president to power and later revolting. may God help us